AN EXCLUSIVE WITH ANAT HOCHBERG-MAROM, AN ISRAELI COUNTER-TERRORIST EXPERT WHO SEES MARKETING AS A NECESSARY WEAPON FOR DEFEATING ISIS.

By Rory Winston

Way before idiosyncratic fictional characters like Homeland’s Carrie Mathison or State of Affairs’ Charlie Tucker took hold of our collective imagination, there had already been a host of women such as former CIA analyst Gina Bennet and Lindsay Moran who not only excelled in the art of espionage and counter-terrorism but had risen to the highest echelons in their respective fields without relying on either bedroom eyes or pouty lips. As Tamir Pardo, the director of Mossad, confided to Israel’s Globe as early as 2012, “women have a distinct advantage in secret warfare because of their ability to multitask.” Listing talents that ranged from a keen ability to suppress their ego to possessing special awareness to being more fit at reading situations, Pardo concluded that female agents were in many ways superior to their male counterparts.

With the present war on terror having expanded into areas such as combatting social media-incitement and internet-recruitment, there has been a growing need for more than just operatives and assets. In an effort to keep up with the contemporary threat of a rapidly evolving terrorist state, ISIL, skilled specialists, theorists and strategic consultants have become indispensable. One such pundit is the highly esteemed Dr. Anat Hochberg-Marom – an Israeli expert in both political marketing and counter-terrorism, a woman responsible for a paradigm shift in understanding ISIS.

As someone with keen insight into how corporations and businesses function, Hochberg-Marom has a unique interdisciplinary approach when it comes to grasping the modus operandi of ISIS. Analyzing the terrorist organization from a marketing perspective, she is able to gauge the way ISIS employs a modular system that allows them to cater their ideology to the local needs of a prospective target audience.

Disclaimer: This is not a real FB page but a mock-up created by the author RW

FANATICISM, The FRANCHISE
Creating what can best be described as a ‘user-friendly fanaticism’, ISIS invests a slanted version of a 7th century Islamic dogma with the localised biases of each given society they wish to win over. And they do so by employing all the cutting edge technology of the 21st century. In effect, they create an easily mass-produced generic product that can then be localised and plugged into whatever circuitry is present. By way of example, Hochberg-Marom explains how ISIS caters its version of Jihad to fit in with the needs of a given populations. For instance, in Jordan ISIS has framed their struggle as a revolution to overthrow the monarchy, whereas in Syria they aligned their terrorism with being a liberating force against the cruelty of the Assad regime. This while in Western Europe, the focus is presented as a war against a permissive decadent culture and lifestyle. As for the US, they have fused their Jihad with an anti-capitalist ethos and, in so doing, have projected an image that is the antithesis of 'America's cynical materialism', becoming the tireless knights who fight a self-serving system with 'genuine values'. It is this ability to reinterpret vitriol so that it smacks of commitment and to invest hatred with a local target that gives ISIS its global appeal.

Likewise, it is precisely this level of malleability that makes ISIS impervious to defeats by strictly military means. While Dr. Hochberg-Marom does in no means underestimate the legitimacy and importance of strategic airstrikes, economical boycotts and intelligence activities, she also knows they are not on their own enough to put an end to the threat that terrorists the ilk of ISIS pose.

THE E-JIHAD
In order to abolish ‘global Jihad’, it is necessary to curtail the group’s influence – and by influence, Dr. Hochberg-Marom means incitement by way of social media. The E-Jihad, as she calls it, is by no means a second tiered front. It is the main line of offense (sic) for an organization that manages to continuously reboot itself with new recruits.

(Mock-up by RW)

ISIS, explains Hochberg-Marom, must be seen for what it is: a terrorist organization that has adapted the very modern management, organizational and marketing disciplines that are a staple of global corporations. Their product is the fanatical ideology that proclaims the superiority of a distorted variation of Islam over democracy and all other faiths. While each terror attack certainly creates damages and casualties, the main objective is to maximize impact and shift world public opinion. The attacks themselves are marketing campaigns. They have, in today’s world, evolved into a highly orchestrated ‘ad campaign of terror.’ This terror is not a by-product of the current Jihad but rather a critical component of its overall structure. It is the multinational design of ISIS that separates it from all historical predecessors - whether IRA, the Italian Red Brigades or Baader-Meinhof. To overlook the corporate vision behind their madness would be a fatal error.

TERROR’S POP STARS
While Jihad's traditional channels of distribution have included radical Imams and those operating under the cover of given mosques, today their main means of promotion has become the internet. It is in this virtual arena that the role models, opinion leaders and governing hopefuls of ISIS are born. While the new kingpins of horror may be motivated by distorted religious ideology, the key to their success is as vapid as that of their pop cultural counterparts. It is sex appeal, the promise of adventure, and the illusion of power and fame.

Understanding Jihad from a marketing perspective provides us newer tools with which to confront the threat. As Anat Hochberg-Marom insists, “The West must acknowledge that we are in a battle of ideas and the war we are waging is for the souls and minds of mainstream Muslims and western youth.”

(Mock-up by RW)

The good news, as Hochberg-Marom explains, is that our knowledge of e-marketing is vast. It is a discipline we are not only familiar with but it is one that we have successfully deployed in the world of business time and time again. Leveraging our expertise in marketing is a necessary move, and it is one that would provide us with a more long term and efficient way of winning this war.

It does not take much for me to be reminded that the world of business and marketing have indulged in warlike terminology for years. We have had our share of ‘headhunters’, ‘hostile takeovers’, ‘corporate spies’ and ‘ corporate raiders’. Our Gordon Gekko’s have often come complete with their copy of Sun Tzu’s Art of War while dressing themselves in military visions of grandeur prior to each battle. Perhaps the time has come to realize that while the language of war may have pervaded business – becoming a facile if inaccurate metaphor for self-anointed Napoleons - it is our business acumen that may provide us with an ideal way of defeating global terror.

In a world where corporate minded Jihadists wage ad-conscious campaigns of terror, perhaps it is time we prepare ourselves for an ideological battle fought on the frontline of marketing. With perspicacious and vibrant women like Anat Hochberg-Marom at the helm, we may yet be able to build a formidable army of copywriters, art directors and social media experts capable of marching into battle against fundamentalist propaganda. Armed with slogans, graphics and a solid marketing strategy, we have the intellectual capacity to win this war. Our creativity may just prove to be our best long-range weapon when it comes to driving terror out of business.

Annie Leibovitz reinvents the Calendar Girl in a feminist tour de force

By Rory Winston

“Photographs shock insofar as they show something novel,” commented Susan Sontag while also coming to the conclusion that ‘capitalist society requires a culture based on images in order to stimulate buying while anaesthetising the injuries of class, race and sex.’ It should come as little surprise then that the late great writer’s former life partner, world renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz, has managed to produce a series of calendar girl pictures that manage to shock precisely by avoiding the commodification of women’s bodies.

In an all-out departure from the given genre, Leibovitz created what can best be described as an ‘anti-pin-up girl series’ that celebrates remarkable women for their accomplishments and inner strength. Deconstructing the prestigious Pirelli calendar, Leibovitz gives us 13 important women (only one of whom is presented in the nude).

Although confounding expectations has been a staple of Leibovitz’s work from as early as 1981 - when her Rolling Stone cover contained a naked and embryonic John Lennon curled in the arms of a fully clothed Yoko Ono - this is the first times that Pirelli’s highly exclusive mailing list will be receiving photographs that eschew eroticism in favor of content. Over the years, Pirelli has allowed their photographers to break with tradition – a good example being when Karl Lagerfeld used his own male muse Baptiste Giabiconi to star as Apollo in his 2011 mythological rendition. And while 2013 did have Steve McCurry show how the organic beauty of a Rio de Janeiro fruit seller was as sensual as anything executed by well-trained supermodels, this is the first time that the calendar is devoid of any taint of sexually exploitative matter. As Leibovitz told Vogue magazine, “Perhaps clothed women are going to have their moment.”

So besides, artist Yoko Ono, rock legend Patti Smith and tennis star Serena Williams, it would behoove us to know the others on Leibovitz’s list of female greats.

Tavi Gevinson

Born in 1996, Tavi Gevinson was named amongst the top 25 most influential teens of 2014 by Forbes. Starting with a fashion blog Style Rookie at the age of 12, Tavi soon shifted focus from purely aesthetic concerns to ones of feminism and pop culture. As a writer and editor-in-chief, Tavi has extended her repertoire to include acting and singing. It’s unlikely her role will be limited to one of one-time wunderkind.

Director and screenwriter Ava DuVernay is responsible for Selma, a film that garnered a Golden Globe Award – the first ever to be given to a black female director. In addition, she was the first black woman to be nominated for Academy Award for best Picture. Along with Oprah Winfrey, she created and executive produced the upcoming drama series Queen Sugar while also executive producing the pilot to CBS’S civil rights crime drama For Justice.

Yao Chen

Yao Chen is not only a Chinese actress with the largest number of fans but someone who has protested her government’s censorship and has actively engaged in attempts to change the status quo. From work with refugees to being a proponent of free press she is an activist who has brought much needed attention to many a worthy cause.

Power business executive, Mellody Hobson is a self-made success who is both President of Ariel investments – one of the largest African American mutual fund companies - as well as the Chairman of the Board of Directors at Dreamworks Animation. Serving on the board of the Chicago Public Education Fund, the Sundance Institute and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, she is active in a wide range of areas while simultaneously holding the tile of director at both Starbucks Corporation and The Estée lauder Companies inc.

NYC-based Iranian artist, Shirin Neshat is renowned for her bold studies, receiving attention as far back as 1993 for her early photographic work Unveiling and Women of Allah – works that explore feminism within the realm of Islamic fundamentalism. Turning to film early on, Neshat’s oeuvre evolved to include both cinema as well as visual art employing the medium of film. Her directorial debut Women Without Men won 2009’s Golden Lion at the Venice film Festival. Beyond representing the ongoing ideological war between the secular world and Islam, Neshat portrays the endless struggle of human rights attempting to surface from under otherwise hostile and repressive regimes.

Philanthropist, patron of the arts and collector, Agnes Gund has devoted years of her life to women’s issues, environmental concerts and art. As President Emerita of MOMA and chairperson of the International Council, she is an Obama nominated member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council of the Arts.

American film producer Kathleen Kennedy is a major force in Hollywood with over 60 films and 120 Academy Award nominations to her credit. From raiders of the Lost Ark to E.T. to films such as Schindler’s List and Munich, Kennedy is not only a regular in the Spielberg franchise but someone who sits on the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The rags-to-riches Supernova – Natalia Vodianova – is a supermodel who devotes a great deal of time to philanthropy, having founded the Naked Heart Foundation – an organization that provides safe and inspiring environments for children in urban Russia while supporting families who raise children that suffer from disabilities. Besides the myriad of charities she is involved with, she is someone who has successfully inspired many others to get more involved. Having been awarded Harper Bazaar’s Inspiration of the Year Award in both 2010 and 2013, she has also been honored as the Voice of Children at the 2014 Glamour Woman of the Year event.

Serena Williams

As for sublime body studies with a self-referential edge, there is Serena Williams standing poised on top of her own image – one that was taken, incidentally, by Leibovitz for Vogue’s April Cover.

Susan Sontag in her book On Photography noted, “The painter constructs, the photographer discloses.” Looking at Leibovitz’s Pirelli calendar, it is clear that a lot more is being disclosed in each image than the subjects themselves. What we are witnessing in these black and white portraits is the innate power, vision and dignity of women who have dared to follow a course of their own choosing. While the photographs themselves do their job of disclosing, it is the women being represented therein who continue to construct. They construct their own lives as well as constructing the very fabric of a better world in which to live. Playing off the sexist tradition of stereotypical Calendar Girls, Annie Leibowitz brings us Calendar Women - the postergirls for values of which all of us can be proud.